Beyond the tragedy

Friday

Jul 27, 2012 at 2:00 AM

What is the world coming to?

Adam W. Leech

What is the world coming to?

That was the general theme of the water cooler conversations at my office, and I'm sure many others, following the tragedy in Aurora, Colo., last week. It's difficult to fathom such evil, but it almost seems like the more news you watch, the more deranged psychopaths you realize exist. As a parent, it's more than a little frightening.

When you consider it within the context of other recent highly publicized travesties — the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal at Penn State or even a local example with the "serial infector" at Exeter Hospital — it's easy to lose the faith you once had in society as a whole. That is, if you ever had any.

But contrary to popular belief, the world is not spiraling out of control. In fact, I think it may be getting better.

I come to this conclusion having spent several years working in the media as a beat reporter. I left that job a couple of years ago to get into marketing, for which I am now happily and perpetually cubicled, but I've found it very interesting to observe the media from afar.

At every newspaper I've worked at there was a consistent and adamant view from the readership that we were too negative. Internally, we did not view it this way, as friction and discourse is typically what makes something newsworthy. Still, we understood it.

All of my editors tackled this issue in a variety of ways, with one even implementing a "Sunny Side" section in each edition. But no matter how many stories on good deeds, bake sales, fund-raisers and puppies appeared, the calls for more positive news persisted — all while Web site visits and the topics of the letters to the editor clearly indicated the so-called negative news was the news people preferred to read and reacted to.

Now, this fact did not drive us to seek out more negative news, but there is a reason cop logs were always one of the most widely read sections. As a society, we are compelled by the extraordinary and dramatic. "Dog Bites Man" isn't a headline; "Man Bites Dog," well, now you're on to something.

On the whole, I think most of us expect people to behave appropriately and not be destructive to themselves or others. When they do, our ears perk up. When we pass along bits of news, it is typically an extraordinary topic. When the media decide what to cover, they prioritize what they know people will read and care about.

With much of the population getting their news online, there's endless space to post new information on a topic. And there is constant pressure to advance the story from a unique angle, which often results in single topics dominating headlines for weeks, sometimes months. Meanwhile, the happy news is often relegated to a 30-second segment at the end of the broadcast. It's overwhelming at times. I realize it now.

But I think it's important to remember that even though these demented savages exist, they are an extreme minority, and there are incredible stories of generosity and goodwill every day.

For every child suffering from leukemia, there are hundreds of people willing to wait in line for an hour to give a vial of blood with the hope of being a stem cell match.

For every person suffering from the loss of a family member to cancer, there are incredible organizations figuring out ways to fight it and a little girl who can't grow her hair fast enough just to shave it off and donate it to Locks of Love.

For every few dozen members of the extremist Westboro Baptist Church, who are willing to protest a soldier's funeral and assert the death was God punishing us for the country's acceptance of homosexuals, there are 5,000 Missourians willing to circle the site to ensure the family can grieve and that those imbeciles don't get close.

For every handful of bullies tormenting an old bus monitor, there are 30,000 people more than happy to donate $700,000 to send her on a vacation of a lifetime and allow her to retire.

Between blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, we are able to access more news than ever before. While these stories often focus on a seemingly negative event, there are countless examples of tales of strife and misfortune that have brought about tremendous good. Now, more than ever before, these stories prompt a global response, with the benevolent majority offering money, sympathy, activism, or simply words of support. That's powerful.

Yes, there will continue to be tragedies that make us want to wrap our children in bubble wrap and keep them locked inside until they're ready for college. But goodwill is running rampant all over the world. We must never forget that.

Adam W. Leech lives with his wife, Barbara, and two young sons in Southern Maine. He can be reached at awleech@yahoo.com.

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